Stint Surgery

In order to eliminate the biliary drain bag and re-establish bile flow, a stint will be installed at the location of the common bile duct blockage to reinforce the duct so that it can drain properly. Unfortunately, the surgery did not go as planned. The proposed coated stint would not fit my anatomy and so an alternate uncoated stint was used. Worse, when the biliary drain was removed the interventional radiologist realized it had been placed through a portal vein or artery, a very serious problem that could not be fixed during this surgery.

In order to complete the surgery, the drain was re-installed and capped off until a later procedure could be scheduled to repair the portal artery or vein. I will stay in the hospital for 24 hours for observation and be released on Wednesday.